It must suck like a black hole to work on a fan project for eight long years only to have it taken down in about eight short days.

Developer Bomber Games spent the better part of the last decade remaking Sega’s classic beat 'em up, Streets of Rage. The redo, released last week, featured tons of stages, all of the playable characters from Streets of Rage 1, 2, and 3, new modes and even a level editor.

Unfortunately, the game was taken down over the weekend. Said Streets of Rage Remake Community forum moderator charco:

“SEGA have contacted regarding the download hosted on this site. While this issue is being resolved, please do not upload the game for others to download. Any links posted on this site will be removed. Thank you.”

According to another commenter, the Bomber Games team did contact Sega’s legal department last year to clear the game’s release. It would appear the answer was “no.”

"SEGA is committed to supporting any fans that take an interest in our games, and where possible we do so by involving them in Beta tests and other development, marketing or research opportunities. However we need to protect our intellectual property rights and this may result in us requesting that our fans remove online imagery, videos or games in some instances."

Comments

Did anyone else find Sega's response a little pompous? As if people beta testing their games for them or being part of market research to benefit Sega is somehow throwing a bone to their fans. Companies really need to realize that they exist for and because of us, not the other way around.

-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-

And people like you need to realize that they have rights, too. Sega has a right to it's IP. You don't have a right to their IP without their say-so. If they don't say "yes," you can't remake it. End of story.

Unless people stop buying their shit, their company goes belly up, and all of their crap ends up on abandonware sites. People honestly need to realize that they have more power than the realize. But that is sort of hard with people like you telling us to bend over.

But really my point was not about them having or not having the right to defend their IP. My point is that all the things that Sega mentioned as though they were throwing us a bone is in fact us doing things to benefit them. It is like someone making you thank them for dinner despite the fact that you paid for both meals.

-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-

Yes, because a fan game will avoid you to earn millions of dollars and no one will be interested on buying your original games, even when games like MUGEN are still online and the fighting games market is just doing it fine. Most than fine.

How is this fan made game taking away their rights? No one is claiming ownership on the IP of this dead franchise. It´s pointless because people who plays this fan game will play or even buy the original games anyways.

Many people owned those games when they were released originally or even they have the same games on newer plataforms (Wii, PSN or XboxLive). This game doesn´t prevent people of playing the original games.

Maybe, maybe not. I personally doubt it. Why pay money for the old game when you can have a new and supposedly better, more feature-rich version for free?

That´s the way you see it. More people could be interesed on get the original games after trying this mod. Chances are that the majority of the members of those forums already have played the original games or have them on their new gen consoles.

No one said it did. But it could and probably will stop people from purchasing the original games.

But how many people? Enough to cripple the sales and put the market on danger? I really doubt it. If that were the case, games like Street Fighter 4 or Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 could be ignored because people is too busy playing Mugen.

There are a lot of reasons why it's in Sega's best interest to stop the release of this game. Is that its only option? No. Is that its best option? There's arguments to be made both ways.

Yes, and I believe that it was very unfortunate that Sega choosed this way to resolve things.

And to those asking why they would do a remake instead of a tribute, I think it's worth noting that this game is the very definition of a tribute. It doesn't feature any of actual Streets of Rage games in it. It's not a literal remake. You can't sit down with this game and play Streets of Rage 2, for instance. It's got original levels, multiple paths that can be taken, it allows you to play as characters you couldn't play as in the originals, and it even lets you create your own levels. Its better than any version of Streets of Rage that has ever been released by Sega.

And the most impressive thing, in my opinion at least, is that they didn't even rip the original graphics, music, or source code. They created everything from scratch.

If anything, Sega could have taken advantage of the interest drummed up by this fan-made game to make and release an actual remake of the originals.

I know Sega has a legal right to do this, and I'm not arguing that they don't, but for all the fans who still have an interest in this series (which Sega hasn't done anything with since 1994), I feel like this is a real disservice. These guys weren't even trying to make a buck off of Sega's IP. Instead, they just made a whole lot of people, myself included, have a renewed interest in Streets of Rage.

I remember when Square Enix did this more than once with fan-made Chrono Trigger remakes. Wait until a fan project is nearing completion, or until it's complete, then slap 'em with a C&D.

Here's a hint: Developers/publishers kind of take offense when you dare assume you can make their game better than they can. It's like slapping the face of the chef who served you the greatest filet mignon of your life, and saying he should have done it different.

You're better off making your own IP, if you're gonna spend that much time on it.

What if you actually succeed in making a better filet mignon? Only to have the jealous chef break into your kitchen and throw it into the garbage? Wouldn't it better serve the chef to perhaps take notes instead rather than react on infantile emotion?

-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-

My point is that even if you do make something better, unless you have the rights and/or permission to do so, they're still gonna slap you with a C&D.

There's a few ways you can go about preventing this.

1) Make your own damn IP and game, if it's gonna take you nearly a decade.

2) Buy the rights from the developer/publisher.

3) Ask for permission to use the copyrighted work for your own project. You would be surprised at how well this can actually work. A lot of people don't mind you using their stuff if you ask first, and don't plan on making money off of it. Hell, if you play your cards right, you could land a job offer if you can show them you're making something marketable and/or profitable.

I'm guessing they didn't think asking permission was necessary considering they aren't profitting from this project. It was released as freeware to the general public. Apparently that's not enough for Sega though. Maybe they felt for whatever reason that this "remake" makes the original games redundant. The guys doing Duke Nukem Reloaded on the other hand were smart in that they GOT a personal license to create their game so both Gearbox and their publisher Take Two have approved it accordingly.

Well, now I feel silly, I can't seem to recall what I read 2 minutes ago. But them continuing to work after Sega says "no" is even worse than not asking at all. They should have figured it out then and there that they'd have to either stop what they were doing, or rewrite it so that nothing copyrighted was used. If they could make up their own stages, mechanics, and even put in a level editor, I'm sure it wouldn't be too far-fetched to come up with original characters, and an original title.

As a former chef, I can tell you that yes, they would throw it in the garbage, given half the chance. It's why I quit working in the food business. Too many people only caring about being better than other people, not enough care about making good food that makes people happy.

Note to any would be chefs out there, never ever say anything that could be construed as damaging to your head chef's ego. Unless you like being unemployed.

Uhg stupid way to do things, let them make it then come in and take over the IP re pack it and resell it and limit what they can host on thier site thus everyone wins rather than tossing the baby out with the bath water.....

I think this is a really good idea. The guys who did this did an amazing job, and it would really benefit Sega to embrace it rather than shut it down, especially since it gained a good degree of popularity during the short time it was available.

Besides, they weren't even planning on making any money off of this remake. I'm sure they would be delighted to recieve even a small cut of the sales if Sega were to license it.

i'm with the above in wondering why they didn't make an actual fan game vs a remake, but on that same note, where was Sega during those years? and why pick now to attack?

best yet though, why such a pathetic excuse on IP rights for a game THEY DON'T EVEN SELL ANYMORE?

nothing irks me more than seeing good fan projects shot down due to some corprate biggot thinking somehow its gonna damage sales of something that their company isn't supporting, nore planning to support or sell anytime within the foreseeable future.

or are they bringing it back soon, or in some cheesey throwback collection again?

Yeah, I bet they never expected it to ever be actually finished. There's so many fan projects out on the web -- most will never be completed. Yet if Sega went around shutting them all down on first announcment, they'd risk alienating their fanbase. Not really a good solution to this on their part, honestly.

Yeah, I have a hard time sympathizing with these guys. Its great that you work 8 years on a really polished game, but don't you think it would have been more worth it to have spent that time making your own game and IP?

I suppose I'm a little unsympathetic to this problem. You had the determination to work on a game for 8 years! That's great!.. Why not make it a tribute game that plays off the original, rather than simply remaking the game? Sega doesn't have any legal ground to stop a game inspired by their work.

Daniel Lewis: The only thing said i disagree with is the final quote on Men's experiences are seen to be universal but women are gendered,though doesn't anita say that games with male protagonists are male power fantasies,so in turn both are gendered03/31/2015 - 1:08pm

Daniel Lewis: i found the video to be much better than any of the TvW series and it's about time the positive women are put in the spotlight03/31/2015 - 1:06pm

Daniel Lewis: So feministfrequency released a positive female character video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXmj2yJNUmQ03/31/2015 - 1:05pm

Daniel Lewis: I think the guy who made the direct leak said it was an april fools joke when a real one was announced03/31/2015 - 12:43pm

MaskedPixelante: No way Nintendo would let information like that get out. Remember, they shut down a memoir about the localization of Earthbound by enforcing a 20 year old NDA on the author.03/31/2015 - 12:42pm

james_fudge: Conster: the larger issue is that Ind. does not protect LGBTQ+ people under state law03/31/2015 - 12:11pm

PHX Corp: @MP I think it is confirmed(not an April Fools joke) http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/31/nintendo-direct-confirmed-for-wednesday-april-1st/03/31/2015 - 12:00pm

Conster: Apparently Pence intends to amend SB101 so denying service isn't allowed - without explicitly protecting LGBT+ and while still allowing the many other things you can get away with now if it's motivated by your religious beliefs.03/31/2015 - 11:53am

MaskedPixelante: http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/30/rumour-nintendo-direct-on-april-1st/ A supposed full leak of tomorrow's Nintendo Direct, so you can all laugh and laugh about how wrong it is.03/31/2015 - 11:35am

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/why-a-tekken-7-character-is-being-called-a-phoney-1694724959 Why a Tekken 7 Character Is Being Called a Phoney03/31/2015 - 10:08am

Michael Chandra: Argh. Anyway, I'm glad that move was made. Wonder if it counts, can he just declare it like that? 03/31/2015 - 9:27am

Zen: Conster - Good, it's a BS law that exists to just allow hate basically. Glad people are standing up to it. Sadly it should never have passed to begin with though.03/31/2015 - 8:39am

Zen: Nintendo Direct tomorrow it seems. Funny it will be on April 1st lol. http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/31/nintendo-direct-announced-for-tomorrow03/31/2015 - 8:38am

MaskedPixelante: http://www.destructoid.com/chris-charla-would-love-to-see-no-man-s-sky-on-xbox-one-289761.phtml Apparently Microsoft's famous "parity clause" doesn't apply if they thing your game will make them tons of money.03/31/2015 - 8:00am

Conster: Basically, he's claiming there's a state statute that allows him to invoke section 2 of SB101 and be exempt from it.03/31/2015 - 5:48am

Conster: "..military service veteran status, and any breach of this policy shall continue to be considered a material breach of the relationship with the City."03/31/2015 - 5:09am